ReviewNPJ digital medicine2020
What is the clinical value of mHealth for patients?
Review in NPJ digital medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 238 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
238 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evaluating Effectiveness of mHealth Interventions for Rehabilitation in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and usability of mobile health applications for epilepsy: A systematic review.Epilepsia · 2025Pooled it
- User Engagement With mHealth Interventions to Promote Treatment Adherence and Self-Management in People With Chronic Health Conditions: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Current Status of Barriers to mHealth Access Among Patients With Stroke and Steps Toward the Digital Health Era: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of mHealth Apps for Maternal Health Care Delivery: Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Patient Engagement with Conversational Agents in Health Applications 2016-2022: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical systems · 2024Pooled it
- Mobile technologies for rehabilitation in non-specific spinal disorders: a systematic review of the efficacy and potential for implementation in low- and middle-income countries.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Pooled it
- App-Based Interventions for Moderate to Severe Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2023Pooled it
- Facilitators and barriers of mHealth interventions during the Covid-19 pandemic: systematic review.BMC health services research · 2023Pooled it
- The Use of mHealth Apps for the Assessment and Management of Diabetes-Related Foot Health Outcomes: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Apps targeting anorexia nervosa in young people: a systematic review of active ingredients.Translational behavioral medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Digital Health Technologies for Long-term Self-management of Osteoporosis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Pooled it
- Characteristics of Mobile Health Platforms for Depression and Anxiety: Content Analysis Through a Systematic Review of the Literature and Systematic Search of Two App Stores.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- mHealth Interventions for Contraceptive Behavior Change in the United States: A Systematic Review.Journal of health communication · 2022Pooled it
- Long-term Effectiveness of mHealth Physical Activity Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Adherence to smartphone-delivered antimicrobial prescribing guidelines in hospitals in Lao PDR: A stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2026Trial
- Feasibility of a 12-Week, Therapist-Independent, Smartphone-Based Biofeedback Treatment for Episodic Migraine in Adults: Single-Center, Open-Label, 1-Armed Trial.JMIR human factors · 2025Trial
- Patients Can Administer Mobile Audio Recordings to Increase Knowledge in Advanced Prostate Cancer.Cancer medicine · 2024Trial
- Evaluation of a Primary Care-Integrated Mobile Health Intervention to Monitor between-Visit Asthma Symptoms.Applied clinical informatics · 2024Trial
- Smart Start - Designing Powerful Clinical Trials Using Pilot Study Data.NEJM evidence · 2024Trial
178 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Despite growing interest from both patients and healthcare providers, there is little clinical guidance on how mobile apps should be utilized to add value to patient care. We categorize apps according to their functionality (e.g. preventative behavior change, digital self-management of a specific condition, diagnostic) and discuss evidence for effectiveness from published systematic reviews and meta-analyses and the relevance to patient care. We discuss the limitations of the current literature describing clinical outcomes from mHealth apps, what FDA clearance means now (510(k)/de novo FDA clearance) and in the future. We discuss data security and privacy as a major concern for patients when using mHealth apps. Patients are often not involved in the development of mobile health guidelines, and professionals' views regarding high-quality health apps may not reflect patients' views. We discuss efforts to develop guidelines for the development of safe and effective mHealth apps in the US and elsewhere and the role of independent app reviews sites in identifying mHealth apps for patient care. There are only a small number of clinical scenarios where published evidence suggests that mHealth apps may improve patient outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.